Inheritable Characteristics
by TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel
Summary: Sam and Dean know a hunter named Xander Harris. As the apocalypse approaches, though, they find there's more to him than meets the eye. Maybe if Dean hadn't dismissed the fact that he looked a little familiar...
1. Prologue

**Author:** TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel

**Title: **Inheritable Characteristics

**Summary:** Sam and Dean know a hunter named Xander. But when the Apocalypse starts approaching, they find there's more to him than meets the eye.

**Spoilers/warnings:**

For Supernatural: Uh… season five? In general? You know who Gabriel is, you're good to go.

For Buffy: I dunno, first two seasons in general?

**Author notes:**

_So, part of the plot was inspired by the fic, '_Isn't It Ironic?'_ by _Luna del Cielo_. –evil grin- If you've read it, you might be able to guess, a little, at where this might go._

_

* * *

_

**Inheritable Characteristics**

**Prologue  
**

**

* * *

**

They met him when they were trying to take out a vampire nest.

'Trying' being the operative word.

Sam was busy fending off three vampires at once and Dean had one practically at his throat.

As he got thrown back against the wall and pinned, Dean had just enough time to think several curse words as the vampire closed in.

But instead of the vampire biting him, there was a whirl of wood and metal from the side and the vampire's head went flying.

Dean coughed a bit as the headless body collapsed, leaving him the sight of a short guy with an axe who was already moving across to help Sam.

With three of them now fighting the odds were evened, and they made short work of the remaining vampires.

"You're not bad," the guy with the axe commented. Something about the slight wave in his hair and the shape of his face looked vaguely familiar, but Dean couldn't give a damn right now.

"Neither are you," Dean responded. "Dean Winchester. This is my brother Sam."

"Xander Harris," the other hunter offered, holding out a slightly gory hand to shake. Dean didn't hesitate, and Sam hid his slight distaste well as he did the same.

"Bigger nest than you thought, huh?"

"Yeah," Sam agreed wryly. "Thanks. You really helped just now."

Xander just shrugged.

"Hey, it's part of the job, right?" He shrugged the thanks off easily. "Besides, everyone gets in a tight spot now and then. I know I'm never going to live down the time the praying-mantis lady almost ate me. I mean, I was in high school at the time, but considering my friends had warned me something was up, that's no excuse."

Dean and Sam exchanged '_what the hell?_' glances.

"Praying mantis lady?" Dean repeated.

"Yeah." Xander made a rueful, disgusted face. "Apparently they eat their partners when they mate. Somehow, Miss French seemed a lot less attractive when I found out what was going on."

Dean felt a certain amount of sympathy.

"I hate it when hot chicks turn out to be supernatural nasties," he agreed. "That's just wrong."

Xander nodded wholeheartedly.

"I know! And every woman I ever date now seems to be a demon, or a resurrected Incan mummy, or whatever. It's like I'm cursed. It's gotten so bad that if I only say I met someone, my friends break out the stakes and the holy water."

"That's tough, man." Sam had his commiserating face on. Well, if anyone got that whole thing, it was Sam.

"Tell me about it." Xander looked around. "Don't suppose you know if there's any bars around here? I could use a drink."

"Best damn idea I've heard all night."

* * *

The three of them met up in the local bar and sat down in one corner.

Sam and Dean had each gotten beers, while Xander sat down with a green swirly drink with a little umbrella in it.

"Hey, don't judge me," he said, in response to their looks. "I like a manly drink as well as anyone, but sometimes I just want something with enough sugar to make me pass out."

"What the hell is that thing, anyway?" Dean asked, with a skeptical eyebrow. As far as he was concerned, no hunter sat down with a girly drink like that. His respect for Xander had just taken a hit.

Xander shrugged.

"A bunch of drinks with fancy names," he replied, trying his drink, and wincing as the umbrella poked him in the eye. "On second thought, maybe I should remove the umbrella first."

Dean smirked, and saw that Sam wore a slight grin.

"So. You're a hunter too?" Sam asked, opening up the conversation.

Xander nodded.

"Yup. Been hunting things since I was sixteen. One of my friends was a hunter, and we ended up helping out."

"That sounds... really dangerous," Sam said, eyebrows rising.

"Yeah. We were lucky."

"You sure as hell were. Most kids trying that sort of stunt get killed," Dean said bluntly.

Xander just nodded sombrely in agreement, his eyes momentarily sad, like he was remembering someone who hadn't been as lucky as he was, Dean thought. He knew the look.

"How about you two?" Xander asked in a suddenly upbeat voice, the smile back on his face. His eyes were shuttered, though.

"Our Dad was a hunter," Sam said.

"And our grandfather," Dean added. "You might say it's the family business. We grew up with this shit."

Xander made an '_I don't know what I think of that but it probably isn't good_' face.

"That must have been pretty hard on you as kids," he commented.

"Yeah."

There was silence for a moment.

"I'm going to get myself another beer," Dean announced.

* * *

When the three of them were thrown out at closing hour, several hours later, and went their separate ways, it was carrying each others cell phone numbers. Xander had been a fun kind of guy, and Dean suspected he was someone you might be able to trust to watch your back, if things turned ugly; that was how he felt, anyway, although he was pretty sure Sam just wanted to remain in contact because the two of them had bonded over dead languages over Sam's fifth beer and Xander's third green girly drink.

Over the next year or so, they sometimes rang each other about a case, even helping each other out on occasion, and any time they turned up in the same town at the same time they usually met up for a drink somewhere.

It was sort of like having a weird-ass long-distance friendship. And that was kinda nice.


	2. Chapter One

**Author:** TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel

**Title: **Inheritable Characteristics

**Summary:** Sam and Dean know a hunter named Xander. But when the Apocalypse starts approaching, they find there's more to him than meets the eye.

**Spoilers/warnings:** For Supernatural: Uh… season five in general? Probably up until _Changing Channels_, although I don't promise to stick entirely to canon. Really, if you know who Gabriel is, you're good to go, I guess.

For Buffy? I dunno, first two seasons in general? This is pretty AU after season one, probably.

**Author notes:**

_So when I originally posted this, I couldn't think of a title that fit. Then I thought of one. So the title has been changed. _

_This is basically me just rambling all of the place with an idea. It'll be quick and messy, so hopefully it all gets posted and written before I lose interest._

_

* * *

_

**Inheritable Characteristics**

**Chapter One**

* * *

Two weeks after the whole TV Land thing and the Trickster turning out to be a frigging archangel, Sam got a phone call.

"Xander," he said, eyebrows going up in surprise.

"What? Xander?" Dean demanded.

Sam waved him off, so Dean hovered nearby and watched Sam's facial expressions and tried to follow the one-sided conversation.

"Uh-huh. Yeah." Sam grimaced a bit. "Yeah, I know." A couple of minutes silence, while Sam frowned a bit, listening intently. "I don't know, Xander; this is pretty big. Dean and I don't have a choice, but –"

Sam held the phone a bit further away from his ear, presumably because Xander was yelling at him.

After a moment he fitted it close to his head again.

"Okay," Sam said, in a '_jeez, stop going on about it already_' voice, but he was smiling a little. "Uh-huh. Okay." Then:

"Sure. I'll put Dean on."

Dean grabbed the phone out of Sam's hands right there and then, getting himself a bitchface in return, but he didn't care.

"Xander," he said with a grin.

"You two are real morons, you know that?" Xander's exasperated voice asked. "I can't believe you started the apocalypse and didn't tell me."

"Yeah, well, we've been kind of busy," Dean said truthfully. "Where've you been, anyway? Everyone else heard about that ages ago."

"I was working with my girls," Xander explained, which was enough to make Dean smile slightly.

Xander talked a lot about 'his girls' – Buffy, the hunter who'd originally gotten him into the business; Willow, who was apparently some kind of powerful witch who borrowed powerful from the goddess Gaia rather than any demon; Dawn, who was apparently as big a nerd as Sam and really good with languages; plus a bunch of others Dean didn't bother to keep track of – all the time. He had a whole big-brother thing going on.

"What, and were you all hiding under a rock?" Dean asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Dean; you're an ass. Tell me, where are you guys right now?"

"What, you're planning to come out here?" Dean replied in surprise.

"No, I'm just planning to leave my friends to deal with the apocalypse on their own," said Xander's sarcastic voice. Dean snorted. "Of course I'm coming out there. So where are you?"

Dean thought for a moment of trying to talk Xander out of it, but hell, Xander had already yelled at Sammy over it, and once Xander came to a decision there was no moving him anyway.

Besides, a little help would be kind of welcome.

Dean gave Xander the address of the motel he and Sam were staying at.

"Huh, that's not too far," Xander observed. "I can be out there by tomorrow. Don't you chicken out and leave on me, or I swear, I will wreak a terrible revenge."

"Yeah, sure," Dean said, amused. Last time Xander had decided to 'wreak a terrible revenge' it had involved honey in Sam's hair and an annoying tune playing any time Sam clicked something on his laptop. Dean had found it pretty funny, mostly because of the way Sam sulked like a girl and made dramatic bitchfaces in Xander's direction, while Xander just continued on as cheerfully as always. "Don't worry, we won't go anywhere."

"Okay then," Xander said. "Guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah," Dean agreed. "See you then."

* * *

Xander turned up the next day, as promised, in an old pair of jeans and a Batman t-shirt.

"Nice shirt," Dean complimented him.

"Thanks. I like to go with the classics."

Sam made a sad '_I can't believe you think Batman is a classic_' face.

"I think we've just pained Sam's inner literature buff," Xander observed. "That, or he's more of a Marvel guy."

"Whatever," Sam said. "I'm just glad you're not wearing the Hawaiian shirt again."

"Amen to that," Dean agreed. "That monstrosity deserves to be salted and burned."

"Hey, stop insulting my fashion sense," Xander argued, punching Dean lightly in the shoulder.

"Fashion sense? Dude, what fashion sense? No one who wears that kind of eyesore has a fashion sense."

"Yeah, Xander. Only the colour-blind could appreciate that shirt."

"I hate you both," Xander said petulantly, and slouched on the end of Dean's bed. "Irritating… freakishly tall…"

"Enormously handsome," Dean offered.

"Shut up."

Xander made himself comfortable and pulled out a Twinkie packet from somewhere, and started to eat it.

Dean had given up trying to work out how Xander could possibly hide so many of the dessert cakes on his person without anyone knowing, and just accepted that when it came to Xander and Twinkies, there would never be any answers.

"So," Xander said through a mouthful, "tell me about this whole apocalypse thing."

Xander listened intently, with that thoughtful, considering stare he sometimes got like he was working out exactly who you were, up until Sam and Dean started to tell him about the Trickster sticking them in TV Land.

The thoughtful considering stare suddenly sharpened, into a look that was almost fierce.

"Oh, I think I see where this is going. Let me guess, he wanted you guys to be Vessels?"

"Pretty much," Sam agreed. "But get this. Turns out the Trickster, pagan god, is actually Gabriel, archangel."

Xander's eyes widened.

"Say what?"

"Yeah," Dean snorted wryly. "That was pretty much our reaction. And Cas… well, he seemed pretty upset that his brother turned out to be such an asshole."

Xander looked up at them, and the thoughtful, considering look was back, but this time there was something almost savage underneath it, that made the hairs on the back of Dean's neck rise.

"Wow." He stared at them for a second. "So, what are you going to do about it?"

"What can we do?" Sam asked. "He's an archangel. That's kind of out of our league, Xander."

"I think Cas is hoping he'll come round," Dean said, "but I'm not exactly full of hope here."

"Are you planning to, you know, spill his secret?"

Xander's eyes met Dean's, and again the intentness behind Xander's gaze set off Dean's warning signals.

"I don't know," Dean answered.

Xander stared between them for a moment longer.

"Fair enough." Bright cheerful Xander was back. "Hey, do you guys feel like some pie? I think I saw a pie shop on the way here. And by guys I mean Sam, because Dean, I've never once heard you turn down pie."

"Yeah, sure," Sam said.

"You better get me a big piece," Dean called after Xander as he left.

"A big piece it is," Xander called back, without looking around.

As Xander turned outside the doorway, Dean got a glimpse of his face.

His eyes were dark, and his face was utterly sober.

* * *

For the next three days, Xander helped the brothers on their hunts.

They had been on the trail of a shapeshifter, but once they'd wrapped that up all three of them moved onto what sounded some kind of really nasty haunting.

And then, after three days, Cas showed up in Dean and Sam's hotel room.

"Holy shit!"

Dean and Sam spun around instantly at Xander's yelp, to see him staring wide-eyed at Cas, with a knife already in hand.

Cas, for his part, was frowning at Xander curiously and unblinkingly.

"Dude, it's okay, it's just Cas," Dean soothed. "Hey, Cas."

"Hello Dean, Sam," Cas said mildly.

"Warn a guy next time," Xander grumbled, putting the knife away again. "So, you're their angel bud?"

"I am Castiel," Castiel agreed.

"Great," Xander said. "Xander Harris. Nice to meet you. You know, except for the almost-heart attack."

But Castiel was frowning at him again, his blue eyes appearing to stare through Xander.

"Something is not right about you."

Sam and Dean glanced at Cas and looked back at Xander.

"Excuse me?" The hunter looked a little indignant.

"Who are you?" Castiel asked.

"I'm a friend of Sam and Dean's," Xander frowned. "You know, you're not exactly Mr Good Manners 2010."

Castiel eyed him a moment longer, before apparently dismissing the matter and turning to Sam and Dean.

Xander just raised an eyebrow, and dug an entire bag of Twinkies out of his rucksack.

"So what's up, Cas?" Sam asked, after he and Dean finished exchanging glances, ignoring the rustle of plastic.

"Someone," Cas said carefully, "appears to be protecting you."

"Whoa, hold up," Dean interrupted, "what do you mean, 'protecting?'"

"Something is preventing all angels and demons from finding you," Cas explained with composure. "It appears to be subtly repelling every angel and demon within a fifty-mile radius, apart from myself. It is far more effective than the sigils. I was only able to find you when I focused on doing so with no distractions."

"Wouldn't that take a lot of power?" Sam asked, brow furrowed.

"More to the point, who would do it, and why?" Dean pointed out, already suspecting sinister motives. This kind of thing _always_ had some kind of catch. It was never just someone trying to do something good.

"Gee, let's think," said a horribly familiar, mock-thoughtful voice from behind the Winchesters, even as Cas's eyes widened at whatever he saw behind them, "who or what could possibly have the power to do something like that? Oh wait."

"Gabriel," Dean snarled, turning to face the archangel.

"Dean. Sam. Castiel," Gabriel acknowledged. He turned his head to where Xander was sitting frozen with the bag of Twinkies in the middle of the table in front of him, and his eyes turned bright and warm.

"Hey Xander," the archangel said happily. "How you doing, kiddo?"


	3. Chapter Two

**Author:** TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel

**Title: **Inheritable Characteristics

**Summary:** Sam and Dean know a hunter named Xander. But when the Apocalypse starts approaching, they find there's more to him than meets the eye.

**Spoilers/warnings:** For Supernatural: Uh… season five in general? Probably up until _Changing Channels_, although I don't promise to stick entirely to canon. Really, if you know who Gabriel is, you're good to go, I guess.

For Buffy? I dunno, first two seasons in general? This is pretty AU after season one, probably.

**Author notes:**

_So, this next part was supposed to be all light and fluffy and amusing… and then it turned into this, which is probably more realistic. Oh well._

_

* * *

_

**Inheritable Characteristics**

**Chapter Two**

**

* * *

**

Gabriel's words appeared to break Xander's frozen state.

"Oh _shit_," he said in horror, as Gabriel's eyes were drawn irresistibly to the Twinkies.

"Hey, Twinkies!" Gabriel exclaimed exuberantly.

"They're my Twinkies!" Xander cried, lunging over to huddle over his treats protectively.

Gabriel gave a wicked grin and snapped his fingers, and Xander vanished from view.

Gabriel reached for a Twinkie and started to open it, plastic wrapper rustling.

A moment later Xander was back, dripping water all over the floor and glaring.

"_My Twinkies!_" he yelled, and dove at the archangel.

For a moment there was a scuffle, but Gabriel mushed his hand in Xander's face to hold him off and shoved the entire cake in his mouth in one go.

"I hate you," Xander snapped. "What kind of parent steals their kid's Twinkies?"

"Mmm, these are good," Gabriel said obnoxiously, his words muffled by the mouthful of Twinkie. "One who thinks you eat too many Twinkies as it is, kiddo."

Xander sulked, while everyone else fixed the two with incredulous, blank stares.

"Gabriel." Sam broke the heavy silence. "Xander. You never told us you were related."

"That's because the God Squad would kill me on sight," Xander explained, grabbing a Twinkie of his own and opening it, "because I'm half-human, and as far as they're concerned I'm an abomination."

He was eating the Twinkie casually, but they could all see how tense he was under the façade.

"Ever heard of the nephilim, Winchester?" Gabriel asked. "An entire race of half-human angels, and every one of them slaughtered for the sin of being _impure_." He sneered a bit. "No way I was about to let that happen to my kid."

"How did you hide him?" Cas finally spoke up.

His eyes had never left Xander.

"Simple." Gabriel shot Cas a smirk. "I bound his Grace and stuck him on top of a hellmouth."

"You left a human-_angel_ hybrid on a _hellmouth?_" Cas's eyes blazed.

"Yep, and it worked just fine, until I started hanging around with the Slayer," Xander agreed. "I got drawn into a whole lot of magic, beaten up, bitten, cursed – after a while my friends started to notice that there was something off about how everything was always drawn to me, but I ended up fine. My friend Willow did this ritual to reveal the truth about a person, and next thing we know I'm all glowy and have these giant pairs of wings sticking out of my back. Dad showed up, like, ten minutes later and had to explain everything."

"You have been helping the Vampire Slayer to patrol the active hellmouth?" Castiel looked thoughtful. "That explains a great deal."

"Whoa, whoa, back up," Dean declared, finally recovering from his shock and disbelief. "You're _part angel?_ And _Gabriel's_ your _father?_"

Xander winced at the anger trembling in Dean's voice.

"Uh, yeah," he said, eyeing Dean and Sam warily. "Uh, in certain circles I'm known as Alexander Lokisson. Although not among hunters, obviously, because some of them actually, you know, research. It's… not something I really tell people. Even the ones who know I'm Loki's son just think I'm like, part god, or something."

"_Really_." Dean's voice was scathing. "And when were you planning on telling _us_ that your dad was the guy who stuck us in TV Land to make us say yes to Michael and Lucifer?"

Xander squirmed a bit, although he sent Gabriel an unfriendly glance.

"Uh, I wasn't?" He hurried on before they could say anything more. "I mean come on, it wasn't exactly going to go well, no matter what I said. And for the record, I had no idea what he was up to."

Xander glared at his father as he spoke.

"What?" Gabriel held up his hands. "I have to tell you everything I do, now?"

"You _knew_ they were my friends," Xander said, his voice low and fierce. "An explanation would be really nice right now."

Gabriel avoided meeting Xander's eyes.

"That's it, I'm calling Hel."

"What! Why?" Gabriel exclaimed.

Xander levelled an accusing finger at him.

"Because you've gone all weird and secretive, and Jorg said last time that happened, you started a war with the giants."

"Please, that got blown all out of proportion," Gabriel argued.

Xander just folded his arms and looked annoyed and unyielding.

"Okay, okay, _fine_." Gabriel gave in. "Don't call your sister, alright? I'll tell you. She's as bad as her mother."

"I bet she'd love to hear that," Xander commented.

Gabriel sneered at him.

"Look," and his voice had acquired the high-pitched, slightly whiny edge that Dean had heard when Gabriel was justifying himself inside the ring of holy fire back in the warehouse, "I just wanted it all to be over, so I tried to force the Brothers Bozo here into saying yes to Lucy and Mikey, but it didn't work. They said a few things that got me thinking, and I changed my mind, and now I'm trying to help. That's it, end of story. No big mystery for you to worry about."

To Dean and Sam's surprise, Xander looked livid.

"You were trying to _speed things up?_" he demanded, his own voice gaining that same high-pitched edge that Gabriel had used. "_Knowing that me and Hel and Fen and Jorg would all be killed as aberrations the moment the battle was over?_"

His voice continued to get higher and higher and sharper as he spoke, until his last words were a painful, inhuman shriek that rattled the windows and made Sam and Dean wince in sudden pain.

"Xander." Cas's voice was startlingly calm. "You need to modulate your voice. You're hurting Dean and Sam."

Xander immediately glanced at them with a stricken look.

"Sorry, guys," he said in apology, his voice sounding more normal.

He shot his father a look of disgust.

"You know what, I don't even want to look at you right now. Can you just go?"

Gabriel, his eyes sad and remorseful, simply vanished without another word.

Xander let out a long breath and ran a hand through his hair.

"You know, sometimes I wonder if I wasn't better off with the guy who used to get drunk and beat me up every night. At least he never tried to help end the world."

Dean had no idea how to respond to that. Sam sent him an uncomfortable look.

Xander turned his head to look at the two of them, genuine contrition in his eyes.

"I'm really sorry," he began.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Dean interrupted, glancing at Sam, who had his 'awkwardly compassionate' face on. "Guess we're not the only ones your Dad tried to screw over." He paused for a second. "I can see why you're not exactly going around telling everyone you're his kid."

Xander gave a bitter snort.

"Yeah."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Sam offered.

Xander just stared past them, not really looking at anything in front of him.

"No."

There wasn't really anything to say to that.

"I'm going to ring my sister and my brothers," Xander said abruptly. "I'll be in my room if you need me."

With that, he stalked off.

* * *

Dean and Sam and Cas were left by themselves.

Sam and Dean looked at each other.

"Well, that was…" Sam rubbed the back of his neck and tried to find words.

"Completely fucked-up?" Dean offered.

"Yeah."

"What do you think, Cas?" Dean turned to the angel.

Cas was frowning thoughtfully.

"I believe that it explains a great deal about the situation on the Hellmouth," Cas said, like either of them had a clue what he was talking about. "A nephil sired by an archangel would naturally possess some of the grace of their angelic parent, which would be more effective at killing demons than any conventional weapon. What I find difficult to understand is why Gabriel would risk his children's lives by attempting to hasten the apocalypse after taking such pains to protect them."

Sam shrugged.

"Maybe since he believes the apocalypse is inevitable, he figured better to get it over with now instead of drawing it out."

"Somehow, I don't think Xander agrees with him," Dean remarked. "Do you think we can trust him?"

"Xander?" Sam asked. "I don't know, man." He shifted uncomfortably. "I mean, how many times has he had our back, Dean? It's not his fault his dad is a complete dick of an archangel."

"I guess," Dean agreed reluctantly. "What is it with everyone turning out to be involved in this apocalypse shit?"

Cas just gave him a look.

* * *

Early the next morning, Dean and Sam were just about to leave to get breakfast in the local diner when Xander suddenly appeared in their room.

"_Xander!_" Dean yelled.

"What? You expect me to walk when I can just fly here?" Xander asked, looking at Dean and Sam like they were insane.

"Dude. There's a door. Knock on it," Sam said.

"But if I turn up out there someone might see me," Xander objected. "Besides, it's kind of fun to watch your faces when I appear out of nowhere."

"Xander," Dean growled.

The argument was interrupted by a brisk knock on the motel room door.

With a sound of frustration Dean marched to the door and opened it.

The tallest, most gorgeous woman he had ever seen in his life gave him an unimpressed look.

Her hair was white-blonde and really long, and her eyes were a sort of bold-ice blue, and normally Dean would have hit on her instantly, except that the hot blonde chick was accompanied by a giant feral-looking wolf that was eyeing him like he was dinner.

"Is Alexander here?" the woman asked. She had a slight European accent, and her voice was crisp and cold.

"_Hel!_" Xander cried delightedly, and Dean found himself gently but firmly propelled aside so that Xander could seize her in a hug. He barely topped her shoulders.

The wolf growled menacingly.

"And Fen!" Xander said, sounding even happier at the sight of the _fucking giant wolf _on the doorstep, and instantly crouched to ruffle its ears.

The wolf made a pleased _whuf_ sound, and nosed at Xander's face.

"I'm glad to see you too, buddy," Xander told him.

The wolf pounced slightly, knocking Xander flat on his back and resting its front paws on his chest.

"_Fen!_" Xander whined. "Get off! _Fen!_"

The wolf growled playfully.

"Fenrir, pretend that you have some manners, please," said Hel, looking down at the wolf severely.

Fenrir rolled his eyes, but let Xander up.

"Uh, Xander?" Sam asked hesitantly. "Is this...?"

"My sister Hel, and my brother Fenrir," Xander replied, still huffing slightly at Fenrir's idea of a brotherly welcome. "Guys, this is Sam and Dean Winchester."

"Uh, hi," Sam said politely.

"Hey," Dean added uncomfortably.

Hel nodded to them both, while Fenrir just glared in their direction.

"How's Jorg?" Xander wanted to know.

"Jormungandr is fine," Hel told him. "Although rather upset by what you told me."

Xander snorted.

"Yeah. Dad's outdone himself this time. So, not that I'm not happy to see you or anything, but what are you two doing here?"

Hel's eyes narrowed, and turned a bright, electric blue.

"I want to have a _discussion_ with our father."


	4. Chapter Three

**Author:** TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel

**Title: **Inheritable Characteristics

**Summary:** Sam and Dean know a hunter named Xander. But when the Apocalypse starts approaching, they find there's more to him than meets the eye.

**Spoilers/warnings:** For Supernatural: Uh… season five in general? Probably up until _Changing Channels_, although I don't promise to stick entirely to canon. Really, if you know who Gabriel is, you're good to go, I guess.

For Buffy? I dunno, first two seasons in general? This is pretty AU after season one, probably.

* * *

**Inheritable Characteristics**

**Chapter Three**

* * *

Which was how Sam and Dean ended up eating waffles in their motel room (courtesy of the Archangel Magic Fingersnap) while one of the nephilim, a half-archangel giantess, and a half archangel/giant godwolf drew runes on the motel floor.

Well, Hel and Xander drew stuff on the floor, anyway, while Fenrir tried to intimidate Sam and Dean into giving him some of their waffles.

The Winchesters eyes him nervously, but Xander had promised great and terrible revenge if Fenrir hurt them, so they felt safe enough to ignore the fixed stare and ominous growling.

Fed up with his failed attempts at extortion, Fenrir lunged for Dean's waffles.

"_No!_"

Dean lunged as well, and there was a collision of man and wolf that turned into an undignified scuffle until Hel sighed, paused, and turned to stare at them both, before she waved two fingers in their direction.

Dean and Fenrir flew apart in opposite directions. Fenrir hit the wall and yelped, before scrambling to his feet and shaking himself, and sending Hel a poisonous glare.

Dean just sort of fell to the floor before he could hit the wall. It hurt a little, but not as much as hitting the wall would have.

Sam just ate his waffles.

Xander rolled his eyes and snapped up an extra plate of waffles for Fenrir.

"Seriously Fen, it's not like you're not half-archangel yourself, you know."

Fenrir whined, and gave Xander pleading eyes.

"Come on, snapping your fingers is just convenient and dramatic," Xander said, apparently understanding the whine perfectly, "it's not like it's actually necessary. And even if it was, you could just turn human for a while."

Fenrir's ears went back a little.

"Fenrir, you are such a baby," Hel sighed. "Anyone would think that you were the youngest, not Jormungandr and Alexander. You are _so_ like Father sometimes."

Fenrir looked affronted.

He yipped something out.

"Well yeah, okay, maybe I'm a bit more like Dad than you are," Xander agreed, "but I'm a hell of a lot more mature than he is – not that that's saying much – whereas you, my dear brother, have inherited his more negative characteristics."

"The traits of the trickster-god, and not of the archangel," Hel said musingly.

"Does no one care that I've spent all morning fighting a wolf for my breakfast?" Dean grumbled, returning to his seat.

"If I had to guess, I'd say the answer is no," Sam responded.

"Bitch."

"Jerk."

"_Loki_," Hel said in quiet satisfaction, as the runes caught fire.

"Whoa!" Dean called out. "Why is the floor _on fire?_"

"Well, he _is_ the lord of fire," Xander shrugged. "God of chaos, and lord of the flame, that's our dad."

"The floor will be fine," Hel told them. "This always happens."

"Okay," Sam said, staring with interest at the burning runes.

The flames went out in the same instant as Gabriel appeared in the centre of the runes.

Hel gave him an icy stare, while Fenrir sat up alertly, ears pointing forward, and Gabriel's face sort of twitched under the attention.

"Hi sweetheart," Gabriel told his daughter brightly, while Hel did her best to bore a hole through him with her eyes alone. They had turned electric blue again. Gabriel turned his head, to meet Fenrir's ferocious yellow eyes. "Hey, son."

Fenrir gave a disgusted snort.

Gabriel looked between all three of his children, like he was trying to work out exactly what he could get away with.

Apparently the answer he came up with was 'nothing,' because his face crumpled and he looked suddenly small.

"Guess you're all pretty pissed at me, huh?"

"I'm not sure that really covers it," Xander replied sarcastically.

Without quite meaning to Gabriel accidentally caught Hel's eye, where she stood like a particularly stern and majestic goddess.

Which, you know, she was.

Hel didn't blink, and Gabriel's face twisted into something anguished.

"Look, there is _no way_ to stop my brothers," he said sharply. "Believe me, _I_ know. I spent _millennia_ trying to do something about the situation, but Michael? Michael doesn't listen to _anybody_, not when it comes to Lucifer. And Lucifer? You'd have better luck trying to have a conversation with a brick wall than get _him_ to change his mind. And those two are so screwed-up about each other that these days, their great big fight-to-the-death is all they care about. I figured, better something quick and clean than a slow, _lingering_, death."

"That's great, Dad. It makes me feel so much better to know you had a reason for selling us out," Xander snarked.

Fenrir growled very low in his throat, and fixed Gabriel with a savage, reproachful stare.

Hel simply sighed softly, and moved forward to place a hand on her father's arm.

Gabriel tilted his head to look up at her, his face pained and desperate.

"Father," Hel said gently. "This isn't about us, or you. It isn't even about Michael, or Lucifer."

Sam and Dean exchanged confused glances. Gabriel's face screwed up a little in bewilderment.

Xander and Fenrir, though, watched and listened intently.

"This is about a world of flawed, but precious people, of uniqueness and beauty and grace and pure creation, coming to an end because the guardians have turned to destruction. This war was never about angels, or ideals. This war is about _people_, Father. People who don't deserve what the angels intend to deliver. We will not stand by, and allow this _wondrous_ world to die, and to burn, simply because the odds are against us. We will fight, and if we have to, we will die, and if we die fighting then it will _mean_ something, because we cannot simply sit idly by, waiting in despair, for oblivion to quietly claim us. That is not who we are, Father, and I know you well enough to know that deep down, in your Grace and purpose, it is not who _you_ are, either."

Gabriel simply stared at his daughter, his expression a mess of conflicting emotions.

"You're beautiful, you know that?" he said finally.

Hel smiled. Dean forgot to breathe for a second.

_Damn_.

"So, Dad, you going to put your Messenger Boy hat on now?" Xander asked flippantly.

Gabriel scowled at him.

"Don't sass me, kid. And hell no. I'm through with being the Messenger."

All three of his children made scoffing or doubtful noises.

"I will put the archangel hat on, though."

"I hope that's grander than a pope's hat," Xander said thoughtfully. "Because if the pope has a grander hat than archangels, then that just sucks."

Gabriel stared at him, along with everyone else in the room.

"I love you, Xan, but you're one seriously weird kid, you know that, right?"

Xander just kind of raised his eyebrows in a sort of facial shrug.

Hel smiled slightly in amusement.

"Okay, so you've all reconciled with each other and you're ready to play Happy Families again," Dean said. "That's great. But we've still got a little problem called The Fucking Apocalypse to deal with. Got any ideas?"

Gabriel gave an uncertain, conflicted frown. Hel just stared at him encouragingly.

"Come on, Dad," Xander said. "You must have _some_ ideas. I mean, you're the 'plans-in-plans' guy."

Gabriel glanced at his son, and sighed.

"Well, killing Lucifer isn't going to work, even if I was _willing_ to try and murder my brother, which I'm _not_. The only one with any chance of that is Michael, and even then it's not a sure thing."

"Well, what about other solutions?" Sam asked.

Gabriel sighed again, like he didn't want to be telling them any of this.

"You know how my bro was stuck in the Cage, right?"

"Trapped by a bunch of Seals, deep in Hell," Xander agreed.

"Yeah, well, the Cage is still down there," Gabriel said seriously. "If, by some miracle, you manage to collect all the keys and somehow trick Lucifer back into it, then all you need to do is lock it all up again and _ta-daa!_ Apocalypse averted. For however long it takes Heaven and Hell to start it all up again, anyway, but hopefully that'll be a while from now."

"Isn't there some way of stopping it permanently?" Dean asked.

Gabriel smiled wryly.

"Everything ends eventually, kiddo," he told Dean sombrely. "There's nothing anybody can do to change _that_ one."

Xander cleared his throat.

"Would the whole 'collecting the keys and trapping the Devil' part be easier with an army of Slayers and the world's most powerful witch?"

Everyone looked to Gabriel hopefully.

"_Probably_," Gabriel said finally, his eyes beginning to gleam as he turned over the possibilities in his head. "You dealt with that hell-god from another reality a few years back, didn't you?"

"Glorificus," Xander confirmed darkly, his face taking on the steely, implacable look Dean was used to seeing on angels. It should have looked strange on Xander's face, but… it didn't.

"Well, Lucifer's gonna be a lot harder to deal with, that's for sure – he's fiendishly clever, for one thing, and for another, _archangel_ – but if your peeps can take out a hell-god, you've got a shot."

"Awesome." Dean couldn't quite believe how much easier it all sounded; in the space of half an hour stopping the apocalypse had gone from 'absolutely hopeless' to 'it might just work.' "I'll ring Cas."

"I'll go talk to my friends," Xander said. "I'll explain the whole situation to Willow first, then we can come up with something. Hopefully something that doesn't involve dozens of teenage girls following me around everywhere, because there's only so many times I can deal with demands to snap up icecream or doughnuts before I crack. Anyway, I'll see you guys later."

Xander vanished as soon as he finished speaking. He might have been half-human, but he definitely had angel manners.

"I will call Jormungandr and Sleipnir," Hel stated. She pointed a finger at her father. "You can help these two explain to the angel Castiel what we are planning. Come on, Fenrir. Let's call from outside."

Fenrir instantly scrambled to his feet and shook himself all over, before following Hel. He nosed briefly at Gabriel's hand as he passed, apparently having forgiven his father.

"Love you too, buddy," Gabriel told him.

Dean's eyes were drawn to the graceful lines of Hel's figure as she strode to the door, hips swaying with her purposeful gait.

Damn. Half-archangel death-goddess or not, she was pretty freaking hot.

"_Winchester!_ Stop checking out my daughter!" Gabriel barked, glaring.

Dean whipped his gaze away.

"I wasn't," he lied.

"Good, because you make a move and I will smite you. Sam's more her type, anyway."

Sam immediately looked surprised and alarmed.

"She likes them tall," Gabriel said conspirationally. "Gets that from me."

He leered a bit.

Okay, that was _way_ too much information.

Dean glanced at Sam, who looked kind of disturbed, but also like he was curious in spite of himself.

Never a good sign.

"Um," said Sam carefully, like he really didn't want to know but felt compelled to ask anyway, "this is kind of a personal question, but is she really… um, from the waist down…"

Now _Dean_ was getting curious, because Sam was looking seriously uncomfortable.

"Totally a corpse," Gabriel said in utter seriousness.

Dean gaped at him, but Gabriel didn't look like he was joking; he was looking at Sam in a straight, honest way that frankly, looked pretty weird on the Trickster.

"I never did work out why, but something seems to go wrong when angels and giantesses produce offspring together. Two of my kids are animals who can shape-shift, and the other one is half-dead, _literally_."

"It's almost enough to make you decide to stop having kids," Dean said sarcastically,

The look Gabriel shot him was venomous, and Dean was reminded that this was an _archangel_ he was taunting here, and maybe that wasn't the brightest move he'd ever made.

"Listen, _Dean_," Gabriel said, as the air grew tense with gathering power, "we might be on the same side right now, but that does _not_ mean that I'm going to take the shit my brother puts up with from you, so watch your mouth, or _lose_ it." Gabriel's eyes burned as he made the threat. "And I might be a lousy father, but if you do anything, or say anything, to my little girl – or any of my other kids, for that matter – then when this is all over I'm going to make Hell look like a cake-walk, you understand me?"

"I get it," Dean said through gritted teeth.

"Good."

The pressure in the room lifted, and Gabriel's expression cleared up.

He raised a devilish eyebrow at Sam.

"Oh, and Sam? If my daughter decides she likes you, you're going to treat her with respect and tact, aren't you?" Gabriel asked sunnily.

Sam suddenly looked extremely nervous.

"Uh, sure."

"Great." Gabriel grabbed another Twinkie from the bag sitting on the table. "Now ring that featherbrained brother of mine and tell him to get down here so we can explain what's going on."


End file.
